115 And proudly think t' unriddle ev'ry Cause, That Nature uses, by their own By-laws : When 'tis not onl' impertinent, but rude, Where the denies Admiffion, to intrude; And all their Industry is but to err,

120 Unless they have free Quarentine from her: Whence 'tis the World the lefs has under

stood,

By striving to know more, than 'tis allow'd. For Adam, with the Lofs of Paradife Bought Knowledge at too desperate a Price; 125 And ever fince that miserable Fate

Learning did never coft an easier Rate:
For though the most divine and fovereign
Good,

That Nature has upon Mankind bestow'd, Yet it has prov'd a greater Hinderance 130 To th' Intereft of Truth, than Ignorance; And therefore never bore fo high a Value, As when 'twas low, contemptible, and shal

low;

Had Academies, Schools, and Colleges

Endow'd for its Improvement, and In

crease ;

135 With Pomp and Shew was introduc'd with Maces,

More than a Roman Magistrate had Fafces; VOL. I.

P

Impower'd with Statute, Privilege, and

Mandate,

T' affume an Art, and after understand it, Like Bills of Store for taking a Degree, 140 With all the Learning to it Custom-free; And own Profeffions, which they never took So much Delight in, as to read one Book : Like Princes had Prerogative to give Convicted Malefactors a Reprieve; 145 And having but a little paltry Wit More than the World, reduc'd and govern'd

it,

But fcorn'd, as foon as 'twas but under

stood,

As better is a spiteful Foe to good;

And now has nothing left for its Support, 150 But what the darkest Times provided for't. Man has a natural Desire to know,

But th' one Half is for Int'reft, th' other
Show.

As Scriveners take more Pains to learn the

Slight

Of making Knots, than all the Hands they

write :

155 So all his Study is not to extend

The Bounds of Knowledge, but fome vainer

End;

T'appear, and pass for learned, though his
Claim

Will hardly reach beyond the empty Name.
For most of those, that drudge and labour
hard,

160 Furnish their Understandings by the Yard,
As a French Library by the Whole is,
So much an Ell for Quarto's, and for Folio's;
To which they are but Indexes themselves,
And understand no further than the Shelves;
165 But fmatter with their Titles and Editions,
And place them in their claffical Partitions:
When all a Student knows of what he reads
Is not in's own, but under general Heads
Of Common-places, not in his own Pow'r,
170 But like a Dutchman's Money i'th' Cantore,
Where all he can make of it, at the best,
Is hardly Three per Cent. for Interest ;
And whether he will ever get it out
Into his own Poffeffion is a Doubt:
Affects all Books of paft and modern Ages,
But reads no further than the Title-pages,
Only to con the Authors Names by rote,
Or, at the best, thofe of the Books, they
quote,

175

Enough to challenge intimate Acquaintance 180 With all the learned Moderns, and the An€ients.

As Roman Noblemen were wont to greet,
And compliment the Rabble in the Street,
Had Nomenclators in their Trains, to claim
Acquaintance with the meanest by his

Name;

185 And by fo mean contemptible a Bribe Trepan'd the Suffrages of every Tribe: So learned Men, by Authors Names unknown,

Have gain'd no fmall Improvement to their

own;

And he's esteem'd the learned'ft of all others,

190 That has the largest Catalogue of Authors.

FRAGMENTS

Of an intended

SECOND PART

Of the foregoing

SAT

ΜΕ

Y R.

ENS Talents grow more bold and confident,

The further th' are beyond their just Extent, As Smatterers prove more arrogant and pert, The lefs they truly understand an Art;

These Fragments were fairly wrote out, and feveral times, with fome little Variations, tranfcribed by Butler, but never connected, or reduced into any regular Form. They may be confidered as the principal Parts of a curious Edifice, each separately finished, but not united into one general Design.

From these the Reader may form a Notion and tolerable Idea of our Author's intended Scheme; and will, I doubt not, regret with me, that he did not apply himself to the finishing of a Satyr fo well fuited to his Judgment, and particular Turn of Wit.

It may be thought, perhaps, that fome Parts of it ought to have been illuftrated with Notes; but as the printing an imperfect Work may be judged by fome Readers of great Delicacy, a Sort of Intrufion upon the Public, I did not care to enhance the Objection by clogging it with additional Observations of my own.